Bolstering the Domestic and Global Economy

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Minimum Wage
The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour. The earnings at this wage are well below the cost of living in most parts of the country, and this forces many people to take additional jobs just to survive. Friends of Intelligent Democracy supports:

Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour to incentivize economic mobility and pay workers a living wage.

Equal Pay
Women in America are only paid 80 cents for every dollar a man earns. Even though the Equal Pay Act has been law since the Kennedy administration, the disparity in pay between men and women in the workplace is still present. The lack of enforcement and loopholes in existing laws undermine the spirit of the laws. Friends of Intelligent Democracy supports:

Passing the Paycheck Fairness Act;

Giving the Department of Justice and the Department of Commerce more authority to enforce the law and penailze wage disparaties.

Paid Leave
The United States is the only developed nation in the world without some form of paid maternity leave. Instead, parents and especially mothers have been forced to navigate a patchwork system combining unpaid leave and vacation days so that they can have the time to properly recover and take care of their newborn child. Paid leave is only available to those who work for corporations that permit it, which only 13% of Americans have access. Such a system is unjust, and only reinforces a culture that makes parents choose between work and a family, and leaves mothers to encounter systematic, long term disadvantages in pay also known as the motherhood penalty. Friends of Intelligent Democracy supports:

Federal law mandating paid family leave, similar to California’s Paid Family Leave Plan;

Strengthening protections from parent-related discrimination.

Subsidies
Subsidies are an effective tool governments can utilize to promote industries that benefit the country as a whole. This is especially true in two industries vital to American society: energy and food. In the energy field, subsidies can be used to promote policies that are environmentally sustainable, and food subsidies are vital to supporting the American farmer. Friends of Intelligent Democracy supports:

Increasing subsidies to support alternative, renewable energy policies, such as solar and offshore wind;

Increasing agricultural subsidies and other agricultural safety net programs, such as crop insurance;

Opposing to current administration plans to cut these subsidies as well as reduce the budget of their respective departments.